The Millennial Kingdom, Part 1

By kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Dr. Tony Evans says God has laid out plans for some big changes coming ahead for us. This will be the ultimate answer to the Lord's Prayer. Earth will take on the look of heaven.

Celebrating 40 years of faithfulness, this is the alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of the Urban Alternative. Throughout the course of history, countries, cultures, and empires have both come and gone, all with varying lengths of longevity. Well, the Bible tells us about an upcoming thousand-year kingdom, and Dr. Evans will examine that today as he explores the Millennial Kingdom.

Let's join him. Mankind has longed for utopia, paradise. You've seen it in TV and movies where we long for a time.

When the pain will end, when peace will reign, when problems will go away. Every election season, we try to elect the person who we think, based on what they said or what they have done, can move us a little closer to utopia, to that period where life is enjoyable to live. The systems of government exist because of a promise of utopia.

Whether it was Karl Marx or Lenin, and the communist worldview or the socialist worldview, even the capitalist worldview, are all seeking to offer the same thing, the best kind of life possible, a utopian life. But it is clear from our newspaper and from our daily existence we're far from that. Utopia seems a long way off. Terrorism, on one hand, disrupts our peace and our security and travel.

There are criminals who care little about life with guns at their disposal, who have no conscience. They have parents to children, and people to people keeps utopia far away. And that dream of having a world where peace reigns, and no matter how many times you say it at Christmas, peace on earth, goodwill to men.

Let Christmas end and the New Year start. And you're right back where you started. Many a woman has married a man who promised her utopia.

He said, if you marry me, I got you. You won't have to worry about a thing anymore, only to find out that utopia didn't even make it past the honeymoon. Because something always goes wrong. Do you know the feeling when it looks like you've gotten all your bills paid and you're in economic utopia and something else breaks down? Just when you thought you finally got that job, that promotion, and then they hire this weird person to work next to you and utopia is gone. We long for utopia. We long for paradise. We long for a world with little or no pain, anguish, and most certainly the end of death.

Something has interrupted the dream of utopia. It's called sin. Whether it's your sin or somebody else's sin that affects you or even the environment that has been cursed by sin, sin has disrupted the possibility of utopia, paradise. In fact, Paul says in Romans chapter 8 that the whole creation groans under this curse. And you see the groaning of creation. It comes in the form of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and tsunamis and floods. It is the vomiting of the earth under the presence and pressure of evil and sin due to a satanically-soaked environment, which is why Satan is called the prince in power even of the air. So you and I live and function and exist and participate in a world that has been penetrated with evil.

Evil in actions, evil in hearts, and therefore the repercussions have affected the whole world. There is coming a time when there will be utopia, and that time is coming in history before we ever get to eternity, and we call it the millennium, the millennial rule of Jesus Christ. Millennium means a thousand. So when you talk about the millennium, talk about a thousand-year period of time. Six times in Revelation 20, it uses the phrase a thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand years. That means millennium.

Let's review. Jesus raptures the church. Seven years of tribulation. Jesus comes back to set up his millennial kingdom. And so today I want to talk to you about paradise. Not heaven.

We haven't gotten to heaven yet. I'm talking about history, the thousand-year rule of Jesus Christ. To understand this, you have to understand why this thousand-year period of time must occur. When God created Adam and Eve, he said, let them rule. We call it the Dominion Covenant, where man was going to rule on earth as managers of God's creation. That rule got interrupted by Satan and sin when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, leading to the deterioration of earth.

Lifespans began to decline, marital conflict entered in, murder, Cain kills Abel, the world becomes wicked, the whole world in Genesis 6 has to be destroyed by a flood because sin cursed the creation. That man was supposed to rule on behalf of God. Because of the sin cycle, there was no man who God could use to oversee the rule on earth, so God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ. He was to be in the seed of David and who was to rule on the throne of God. We know him to be Jesus. That's why in both Matthew and Luke, it gives you the genealogy of Jesus to show that from both his mother and his father, he was from the seed of David because the Messiah had to come out of Israel through the Davidic line. So those boring parts of the Bible that you don't think make sense, those are critical, so that there's a record Jesus qualified as the seed of David.

And all you got to do is look at his genealogical record. So all of this is tied together. He has redeemed the people for his namesake called the church, Christians. There will be tribulation where God will remove the church. All hell is going to break loose on earth as God's wrath is revealed for it will no longer be held back.

Because of the death of Christ. Christians during that seven-year period of time are going to be rewarded based on their faithfulness now. So what you do now, I'll pick this up in a moment, will affect what you get to do in the millennium, in the thousand-year rule of Christ or what you don't get to do.

Luke chapter 19 gives up one of the many illustrations in the Bible of a person who, based on their faithfulness, gained or lost reward in the Millennial Kingdom. He says some will be over ten cities, some will be over five cities, some will be over no cities, and as I said, some will be singing while they sweep streets because they were unfaithful during their earthly life here. All of this is setting the stage at the return of Christ when the Bible says Christians will come back with Him for this thousand-year rule of Christ known as the Millennium. The two reasons why the Millennium will be utopia, paradise, the Bible even calls it a return to Eden, Ezekiel 36 verse 35, a return to Eden.

We get back to what God originally designed. There are two reasons why this will be paradise. One, as we'll say in a moment, Jesus will be ruling. From Jerusalem, the capital of the whole earth will be Jerusalem.

It's the conflict of the whole earth today. It will be the capital of the whole earth then. Jesus Christ, the Bible says, will rule with a rod of iron. In other words, there will be allowed to be no rebellion. You and I, based on our rewards, will be the people who He utilizes to make sure His rule is exactly as He wants it to be. And nobody will be able to override you because you will have a glorified body.

So you don't have to worry about rebellion against you because nobody can overcome you. Now who exactly will you be overseeing in the Millennium? Chapter 25, verse 31 to 46. Because in those verses, at the end of the Tribulation, God is going to separate the sheep from the goat. It says the unrighteous Gentiles coming out of the Tribulation will be sent to eternal judgment, and the righteous Gentiles coming out of the Tribulation, they're going to go into the Millennium in their natural human bodies. But first, as we've been learning, the Bible has a lot to say about what's coming up in the future. Sometimes the language and the images may not seem clear, but Dr. Evans explains it all in his current two-volume series, Prophecy and Our World. You'll gain a deeper understanding of terms like the Rapture, the Tribulation, the Second Coming, and many more. There are also messages on what happens when we die, and what it's really like in heaven or in hell.

Now here's the best part. If you contact us right away, you can get all 12 messages in Volumes 1 and 2 of this powerful series as our thank-you gift when you make a contribution to help keep Tony's teaching coming your way. And as an added bonus, we'll also include a copy of Tony's powerful book, Prayers for Victory in Spiritual Warfare. In it, Dr. Evans explains why we need to turn to God for help winning the invisible spiritual battle going on around us. It includes specific prayers for people fighting against substance abuse, sexual or emotional problems, relational issues, and more.

And this special keepsake edition even includes a luxury cover that looks and feels like leather. So contact us right away before time runs out and request your copy of Prophecy and Our World and Prayers for Victory in Spiritual Warfare. Just visit tonyevans.org or call our resource request line at 1-800-800-3222, where team members are standing by day and night to help you. That's 1-800-800-3222. Well right now, let's pick up where we left off in our message.

Here's Dr. Evans. There is a second reason why this will be paradise. The second reason you read in the first two verses of Revelation 20, because it says, and Satan will be bound for a thousand years. Satan will be bound so that he no longer is able to deceive the nations. The reason why we are messed up is because we've been tricked.

We have been duped, and there's not one person in here who on some level that the devil hasn't messed over because he tricked you. So because he's going to be bound for a thousand years, he will no longer be allowed to trick the nations. And because Jesus will rule with a rod of iron for a thousand years, even if you want to rebel, you won't be able to. This will be the ultimate answer to the Lord's Prayer. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Earth will take on the look of heaven.

There will be an event that will lead into the millennium. Look at chapter 19 verses 7 to 10. Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to him for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready.

It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, Right blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are true words of God. Then I fell at his feet to worship him.

But he said to me, Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and your brother, who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. So everybody loves a wedding. So let me tell you about a wedding, because this wedding involves you, because you're the bride. The first aspect of a wedding in biblical times was the betrothal period.

You and I would say engagement. But there was a big difference between our engagement and the biblical times engagement, because the biblical time engagement was a legal contract, which is why when Joseph saw that Mary was pregnant and saw he had nothing to do with it, it says he sought to divorce her privately. Put her away means divorce. The reason why he sought to divorce her is because even though they had not been married yet, they were betrothed, the Scripture says, or legally bound to one another. Let me tell you how this betrothal happened. Sometimes it happened before the children were ever born. The father would promise another father, if I have a boy, I will betroth him to your daughter. The other father would say, my wife has a girl.

I will betroth her to your son. So there would be a marriage agreement when the kids were not even born, which is why the Scripture says we were redeemed before the foundation of the world. So God already had an agreement with Jesus Christ about who his bride would be, all of those who entered into the church, because you are legally bound. So a lot of times, not always, in biblical times, you married somebody the first time you met them, because the fathers had already made the decisions. In fact, a lot of us would have been better off if we listened to our dads.

And not just what we thought we wanted to do, okay? So the fathers controlled all of that. That's why 1 Corinthians 7 talks about if your father says it's okay, okay? That's why, remember Isaac? Isaac married Rebekah the very first time he saw her, because God okayed it, but it was okayed and he had never seen it before. He fell in love with her the first time he saw her, he took her into his tent, and they were married. First time. Now, that's why—let me say this, this has got nothing to do with this. It actually does. You really—this thing of being engaged for years is—that's ridiculous.

It really don't take that long if you're using the right standard. And by the way, if you hear it shacking up, let me just get off the subject for a minute. You have two choices. If you hear it shacking up, somebody needs to move out, or y'all need to get married.

Because if you're shacking up, you're living in sin. Okay? Okay? Oh, not so much applause anymore. We're here to applaud now. So, if you want to, call my office.

We'll have a group Sunday morning wedding. Get all this straight. And ladies, you're being used.

If he won't marry you, but want to live with you, you're a boy toy. Okay? Back to the sermon. So, we start off with the betrothal. Then there was the marriage.

Okay? That would lead to what we all are aware of, and that is the reception. You know what the reception is? It's a party. It's a party.

You know? The wedding is kind of serious. Will you take this woman?

Will you take this man? That's kind of a serious time. But after the adus, it's a party. I mean, there's music playing, there's dancing. I had to stop going to wedding receptions.

I was gaining weight. There's cake and ice cream and all that. If you pour the snacks at the reception. If you have some money, there's dinner at the reception.

But one thing is true, rich or poor, it's a party. You're celebrating the couple. Jesus's reception is going to last a thousand years. They were being made ready for the marriage supper of the Lamb.

That's the reception. So there's going to be a party with Jesus and his bride. And it's going to happen on earth, even though you're in a glorified body. And for 1,000 years, carrying out your responsibilities as Jesus's bride, you are going to be in a wedding reception called the marriage supper of the Lamb. And you will be there based on the level of your reward. So everybody won't party equally.

And in fact, the Scripture says, some who are part of the wedding will be in outer darkness. But you know hockey, I don't know a lot about hockey, but I do know that if you mess up on the ice, you're put in a penalty box. You're put in a penalty box for a given period of time based on the penalty that you did. Now you're still on the team, but you're not on the ice. You can see what's happening on the ice, but you can't participate on the ice because you'd have messed up when you were on the ice. Well when God plays your tape at the judgment seat of Christ, He's only going to allow to stand what He can use.

What was done in His name for His glory. Everything else will be discarded. And based on what's left, based on your tape, will determine how much partying you get to do at the party.

Or whether you just get to see other folk having fun who you didn't think had that much going for them. So that's the wedding. That's the party. That's the marriage supper of the Lamb, which is the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. Dr. Tony Evans, with a fascinating look at the coming Millennial Kingdom. If you're wanting to fully participate in that upcoming marriage supper of the Lamb, it starts by making Jesus Christ the Lord of your life.

If you're ready to do that now, Dr. Evans would be honored to help you begin your new journey. Just visit tonyevans.org and follow the link that says Jesus. There Tony will explain everything you need to know about what being a real Christian is all about and how to start your brand new life. And while you're there, you can also get more details on that special double offer I mentioned earlier, the two-volume, 12-part audio collection about the Bible and the unfolding of time called Prophecy and Our World, along with the popular keepsake edition of Tony's book, Prayers for Victory in Spiritual Warfare. Both of these helpful resources are yours with our thanks when you make a contribution toward Tony's ministry, but only if we hear from you before this special offer runs out. Make the arrangements at tonyevans.org, or get some help by calling our resource request line at 1-800-800-3222 day or night.

That's 1-800-800-3222. It's common practice for movies and TV series to show previews of coming attractions, and God has done the same for us in the Bible, giving us a taste of what's coming in the time between now and eternity. Well, tomorrow Dr. Evans will talk about humankind's longing for a perfect world and what's kept us from living there so far. Be sure to join us. The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by the Urban Alternative and is celebrating 40 years of faithfulness thanks to the generous contributions of listeners like you.